<-o3501 
L75C5 


NIVERSITY  OF  CA  RIVERS  DE    LIBRARY 


3  121001817  2369 


A 
A 

0 
0 

1 

2 
6 
7 

5 
0 
2 


LIBRARY^ 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
RIVERSIDE 


CHAOS 


"At  intervals  strange  shapes 
in  myriads." 


CHAOS 


A    VISION     OF    ETERNITY 


BY 

ALTAIR 


ILLUSTRATED  BY 

VICTOR  PERARD 

From  designs  by  the  author 


"It  is  an  open  secret  to  the  few  who  know  it 
but  a  mystery  and  a  stumbling  block  to  the 
many  that  Science  and  Poetry  are  own  sisters." 

Sir  FREDERICK  POLLOCK 


NEW  YORK 

DOUGLAS  C.  McMURTRIE 
1919 


PS  3SD  | 


Copyright,  JOIQ     Douglas  C.  McMurtrie 
All  Rights  Reserved 


DEDICATED  TO  THOSE 
'WHO  THEMSELVES  IN  SOME 
MEASURE  ALSO  SEE  VISIONS 
AND  DREAM  DREAMS." 


CONTENTS  vii 


Page 

PREFACE ix 

INTRODUCTION xi 

PROLOGUE  in  two  scenes : 

Scene   I.   Birth  of  the  Universe I 

Scene  II.  The  Eternal  Question 6 

THE  VISION  OF  ETERNITY: 

I.  To-day 10 

II.   To-morrow 20 

III.  The  End  of  Man      28 

IV.  Disintegration 37 

V.   The  Skeptic  in  Chaos      45 


INDEX 


53 


Vlll  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Opposite  Page 

1.  At  intervals  strange  shapes  in  myriads  .    .     Frontispiece 

2.  The  western  bank  of  Hudson' s  mighty  stream   .    .         10 

3.  The  steel-framed  structures  that  once  pierced  the 

sky 28 

4.  Great  bridges  that  once  spanned  the  river's  tide  .  30 

5.  A  library  far-famed  in  all  the  land     ......  32 

6.  The  crumbling  world  is  vitrified  and  bare  ....  37 

7.  Art  thou  the  famed  Aurora  of  the  classic  age?   .    .  40 

8.  A  peace-dispensing  radiance  filled  the  scene  .    .    .  45 


PREFACE  IX 


PREFACE 

Should  any  optimist  feel  disposed  to  object  to  the 
doleful  picture  of  man's  character,  life  and  destiny  de- 
picted in  this  drama,  let  it  be  remembered  that  it  is — 
all  a  dream.  Yet,  dreams  come  true!  Since  this  work  was 
written  a  great  war  has  devastated  Europe  and  embroiled 
the  entire  world.  In  the  midst  of  universal  culture,  when 
mankind  was  serenely  contemplating  an  age  of  peace  and 
enlightened  development,  the  great  storm  broke.  The 
barbarities  of  primitive  ages  were  duplicated,  and,  even 
surpassed.  Rapine  and  torture ;  the  taking  and  killing  of 
hostages;  the  bombardment  and  destruction  of  unfortified 
places  and  the  ruthless  murder  of  non-combatants — all  of 
these  brutalities  were  unexpectedly  revived ;  to  the  horror 
and  amazement  of  a  startled  world. 

In  the  wake  of  all  this  came  other  ills  hardly  less  dis- 
creditable to  human  nature:  While  the  true  men  of  the 
world  were  fighting  the  battles  of  civilization,  other  men, 
debased  and  sordid,  preaching  patriotism  in  the  meantime 
at  a  safe  distance  from  the  zone  of  danger,  were  insidiously 
profiteering  in  all  the  necessities  of  life;  turning  the  sacri- 
fice of  their  brothers-in-arms  to  their  own  selfish  advantage. 
And  now,  with  the  war  over,  the  evil  still  continues.  Even 
religious  intolerance,  suspended  for  a  time,  has  reawakened 
and,  while  its  blinded  votaries  are  struggling  for  tactical 


X  PREFACE 

advantage,  Paganism  runs  rampant  with  poisonous  fangs 
aimed  at  the  heart  of  all  religion.  Races,  too,  are  stirred 
again  to  selfish  rivalries.  Imperialism,  for  the  destruction 
of  which  the  war  was  fought,  still  lurks  in  unexpected  places 
and  diplomats  are  still  striving  to  solve  international  prob- 
lems by  the  methods  of  Machiavelli.  In  short,  we  are 
wearing  the  habiliments  of  civilization;  but  our  culture  is 
largely  cold  formula.  We  speak  the  phrases  of  the  Twenti- 
eth Century;  but  cherish  in  our  hearts  the  fears,  the  hates, 
and  the  passions  of  Medievalism. 

Sooner  or  later,  it  will  be  realized  that  there  exists  in 
the  universe  a  law  of  retributive  justice,  akin  to,  and  as 
inexorable  as,  the  law  of  compensation.  For  thousands  of 
years  mankind  has  been  fluctuating  between  the  extremes 
of  individual  selfishness  and  race  selfishness.  It  is  only  a 
short  step  from  Emerson's  philosophy  of  Self-Reliance  to 
the  arrogant  Superman  theory  of  Nietzsche.  The  indi- 
vidual must  be  taught  that  what  is  best  for  the  community 
is  best  for  himself;  and  races  must  learn  that  what  is  best 
for  mankind  is  best  for  every  race  in  common.  In  this 
lies  the  hope  of  the  world. 


INTRODUCTION  XI 


INTRODUCTION 

A.  FEW  words  as  to  the  form  in  which  this  work  is  pre- 
sented, would  seem  to  be  appropriate.  Though  in  the 
nature  of  an  epic  in  conception  and  scope,  its  movement 
is  inherently  dramatic.  Its  theme  is  the  creation,  the 
culmination  and  disintegration  of  the  material  universe. 
The  primitive  simplicity  of  the  plot  and  the  vastness  of 
its  range  seemed  to  call  for  a  revival  of  the  simpler  methods 
of  the  ancient  Greek  drama.  For  this  reason,  the  chorus 
has  been  introduced  as  it  existed  prior  to  the  time  of 
^Eschylus.  Thus  the  skeptic  narrates  his  experience  and 
the  chorus  makes  appropriate  observations  from  time  to 
time  expressive  of  the  feelings  which  the  stage  pictures 
presented  might  arouse  in  an  intelligent  audience. 

According  to  Eschenburg,  "the  chorus  is  charged  with 
the  exposition  of  the  fable"  (plot),  "it  praised  the  Gods 
and  justified  them  against  the  complaints  of  the  suffering 
and  unhappy;  it  sought  to  soothe  the  excited  passions 
and  to  impart  lessons  of  wisdom  and  experience,  and  in 
general  to  suggest  useful  practical  reflections."  The  chorus 
is  a  convenient  medium  by  which  to  express  the  author's 
opinions.  As  Professor  Gilbert  Murray  says,  in  the  intro- 
duction to  his  translation  of  Euripides  (p.  Iviii,  Vol.  Ill, 
The  Athenian  Drama),  the  chorus  "is  a  method  wonder- 
fully contrived  for  expressing  those  vaguer  faiths  and 


Xll  CHAOS 

aspirations  which  a  man  feels  haunting  him,  and  calling 
to  him,  but  which  he  cannot  state  in  plain  language  or 
uphold  with  a  full  acceptance  of  responsibility." 

In  the  performance  of  a  modern  drama,  in  which  so 
much  depends  upon  the  scenery  and  action,  there  is  no 
need  for  a  chorus;  but  in  the  following  poem  it  will  be 
obvious  that  the  expedient  of  resorting  to  the  chorus  is 
required  by  the  nature  of  the  drama  and  of  the  observa- 
tions which  could  not  properly  come  from  its  sole  actor. 
Under  the  law  of  the  Grecian  drama,  the  chorus  was  not 
permitted  to  leave  the  orchestra  throughout  the  course  of 
the  drama.  This  called  forth  the  following  caustic  com- 
ment from  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  his  essay  on  the  Drama: 
"when  a  deed  of  violence  was  to  be  acted,  the  helpless 
chorus,  instead  of  interfering  to  prevent  the  atrocity,  to 
which  the  perpetrator  had  made  them  privy,  could  only, 
by  the  rules  of  the  theater,  exhaust  their  sorrow  and  sur- 
prise in  dithyrambics." 

Scott  was  not  the  first  to  find  fault  with  the  chorus. 
Aristophanes  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Euripides  the  follow- 
ing comment  upon  the  chorus  of  /Eschylus  and  Phrynichus: 

.     .     .     "And  on  the  chorus  spluttered 
Through  long  song-systems,  four  on  end, 
the  actors  mute  as  fishes." 

The  chorus  was  retained  in  the  early  English  drama; 
but  was  used  chiefly  for  the  declamation  of  the  Prologue 
or  Epilogue.  In  Milton's  Samson  Agonistes,  the  chorus 
participates  in  the  dialogue.  It  announces  the  entrance 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

of  the  actors  and  fulfils  all  of  the  functions  of  the  early 
Greek  drama. 

In  answer  to  the  possible  objection  that  the  want  of 
action  might  militate  against  the  use  of  the  dramatic  form 
in  the  following  poem,  it  may  be  observed  that  the  Per- 
sians of  ^Eschylus  is  practically  a  narrative.  Attossa 
asks  for  news  of  Xerxes.  The  messenger  complies,  de- 
scribing the  Battle  of  Salamis.  The  chorus  intervenes  with 
running  comment.  The  ghost  of  Darius  is  introduced; 
pats  himself  on  the  back,  and  condemns  Xerxes.  The 
latter  enters  and  bemoans  his  fate.  The  chorus  concludes 
with  Strophe  and  Anti-Strophe  and  the  drama  closes  with 
a  procession  in  which  actors  and  chorus  march  out  wailing 
and  rending  their  robes.  Not  a  change  in  scene;  not  a 
single  action. 


PROLOGUE 


PROLOGUE 

SCENE  I 
BIRTH  OF  THE  UNIVERSE 

Utter  Darkness 

CHORUS 

Now  Chaos  comes,  who  rules  the  potent  realms, 
Where  Night  and  Death  eternal  vigil  keep. 
From  out  his  bosom  all  that  lives  shall  spring; 
Into  his  bosom  all  that  dies  shall  sink. 
In  yonder  depths,  long,  long  before  Time  was, 
The  primal  elements  all  dormant  lay — 
Profoundly  resting  in  pre-natal  sleep. 
Throughout  the  formless  cavernous  abyss,1 
The  infinite  bounds  were  silent,  dark,  and  still; 

(Distant  rumbling  is  heard) 
Now  hark !  a  murmur  echoes  from  afar, 
A  stir  of  life  pervades  the  stagnant  void. 
Anon  a  movement  starts  within  the  deep, 
And  rolling  thunder  rises  from  the  depths — 
The  Elements  in  violent  birth  awake; 2 
Lights  flash  and  joyous  sounds  reverberate. 

Partial  Illumination 
(Disclosing  three  castles  abovethe  clouds.  Lower  stage  still  dark) 

1  See  note  on  Nebular  Hypothesis,  p.  1 7. 

2  Referring  to  the  chemical  elements  (eighty  in  number)  out  of 
which  all  forms  of  matter  are  constituted. 


2  CHAOS 

CENTRE.   Castle  of  Hydrogen 
RIGHT.   Castle  of  Oxygen 
LEFT.  Castle  of  Nitrogen 

Gates  of  the  Castle  of  Oxygen  open  and  two  sturdy 
youths  with  wings  appear  dressed  in  armor. 

One  flies  toward  the  Castle  of  Hydrogen.  Throws  a 
spear  against  the  gates  which  fly  open  and  two  beautiful 
girls  with  wings  flutter  out. 

The  other  throws  a  spear  against  the  gates  of  Nitrogen 
Castle,  which  open  also,  and  there  appears  a  young  girl 
with  wings,  dressed  in  white,  flying  slowly. 
(Ftdl  illumination) 

ENTER,  in  wild  confusion,  Elements  represented  by  young 
men  and  women  with  shouts  of  joy. 
{Music  appropriate} 

Execute  dance  in  pantomime. 

CHORUS 

Behold  the  birth  of  Love  and  Hate, 

As  ancient  sages  taught,3 
While  some  repel,  'tis  others'  fate 

To  be  by  Cupid  caught. 

8  Empedocles  and  the  Greek  School  of  Philosophers  which  fol- 
lowed his  guidance,  taught  that  the  elements  of  nature  were 
brought  into  combination  and  separated  from  each  other  by  the 
powers  of  Love  and  Hate,  and  that  from  the  influence  of  these 
forces  all  things  were  created. 


PROLOGUE 


A  vagrant  beau  called  Oxygen,4 

Impulsive  strong  and  gay, 
Assails  the  Court  of  Hydrogen;  6 

But  soon  is  brought  to  bay. 

He's  smitten  by  its  daughters  fair 

And  two  he  takes  to  wife — 
The  fiery  damsels  of  the  void 

Whose  destiny  is  strife. 

Mid  din  and  crash  and  rumbling  roar 

And  flashing,  flickering  lights, 
And  laughter  from  the  Titan  host 

And  countless  scores  of  sprites — 

*  Oxygen,  named  by  Lavoisier,  first  separated  and  identified  by 
Dr.  Priestley.  The  chief  constituent  of  water,  in  the  formation  of 
which,  in  combination  with  Hydrogen,  it  is  approximately  eight- 
ninths  by  weight.  In  combination  with  Nitrogen,  in  the  ratio  of 
one  to  five,  it  forms  the  air.  It  is  the  great  supporter  of  combustion 
and  animal  life.  It  is  the  most  versatile  of  the  elements,  and  is 
not  only  the  basic  element  of  air  and  water  but  enters  largely  into 
the  formation  of  all  solid  substances,  even  being  approximately 
one-half  by  weight  of  the  rocks  composing  the  earth's  sub- 
stance. 

B  Hydrogen  is  the  lightest  of  the  elements  and,  perhaps,  the 
most  inflammable.  Upon  its  discovery  by  Cavendish,  he  called 
it  "inflammable  air."  The  spectroscope  reveals  its  presence  in  the 
Sun.  It  is  one  of  the  paradoxes  of  nature  that  this  light  inflam- 
mable gaseous  element  upon  being  chemically  combined  with 
Oxygen  should  form  water,  the  eternal  foe  of  fire. 


4  CHAOS 

Amidst  the  roar  of  Elements, 

The  nuptials  are  a  lark; 
They  honeymoon  in  a  crystal  sphere 

Afloat  on  a  crystal  barque. 

(Loud  explosion  and  sound  of  rushing  waters.  From 
the  center  of  the  group  of  Elements  appears  a  large  crystal 
globe  in  which  the  groom  and  his  two  mates  stand  with 
hands  joined.) 

A  brother  of  the  sturdy  groom 

Pays  court  to  a  damsel  rare. 
Dame  Nitrogen  is  fair  but  cold;6 

Their  union  forms  the  air. 

Then  other  Elements  unite 

According  to  affinity; 
The  partners  join  and  dance  in  glee, 

And  so  on  to  infinity. 

'  Nitrogen  forms  nearly  eighty  per  cent,  by  volume,  and 
seventy-seven  per  cent,  by  weight  of  the  atmosphere.  Nitrogen 
and  Oxygen  have  only  the  feeblest  attraction  for  each  other. 
Their  mixture  to  form  the  air  is  not  a  chemical  combination.  The 
chief  attribute  of  Nitrogen  is  to  deprive  all  the  elements,  with 
which  it  combines,  of  the  power  of  combining  with  Oxygen — that 
is,  of  undergoing  combustion.  It  may  be  said,  therefore,  to  be  a 
damper  upon  affection  or  affinity.  Yet  it  is  indispensable  to 
vegetation.  Without  it  the  world  would  be  barren. 


PROLOGUE 


In  spirals,  circles,  in  and  out, 

From  chaos  order  settles, 
To  outer  realms  the  lighter  float 

Now  in  the  centre,  metals.7 

And  thus  are  formed  the  stars  and  suns 

And  satellites  attending, 
Which  now  bedeck  the  universe, 

Illumination  lending. 

Scene  darkens.  Discloses  the  sky  at  night  with  stars  and 
planets  brightly  shining.  Meteors  and  comets  flash 
across  the  sky.  Mists  and  clouds — The  sun  rises. 

CHORUS 

Hail !  mighty  Sun !  to  earth  the  King  of  Kings, 
Of  all  the  suns  the  firmament  upholds! 
About  thy  throne  thy  satellites  attend, 
In  solemn  grandeur  since  their  fiery  birth 
Long  years  ago  when  all  was  nebulous. 
Thy  potent  rays  have  stirred  the  Elements 
To  huge  and  infinite  reactions  and 
To  Titan  conflicts  through  long  Geologic  days. 
Thy  forces  set  the  earth  and  air  apart 
And  made  the  waters  take  their  wonted  course; 
With  verdure  clad  the  inhospitable  mass; 
Prepared  the  globe  for  divers  forms  of  life. 

7  See  note  on  Nebular  Hypothesis,  p.  17. 


6  CHAOS 

Thou  wert  beholder  of  the  birth  of  man 
And  mothered  then  his  infant  helplessness. 
To  thee  in  gratitude  he  raised  his  head 
In  prayer,  and  decked  his  altars  with  thy  fire.8 
Thou  hast  beheld  the  world  from  chaos  rise 
And  into  chaos  wilt  thou  see  it  fall. 

SCENE  II 
THE  ETERNAL  QUESTION 

A  balcony  overlooking  the  Hudson  River.  The  Palisades 
in  the  distance. 

SKEPTIC 

You  ask  me  how  I  know  that  death's  the  end 
And  that  'Hereafter'  is  an  idle  myth — 
Because  I've  had  the  experience  of  sleep, 
Which  is  the  living  prototype  of  death. 
For  if  we  gain  release  from  pain  and  woe 
By  grateful  slumber's  dead  unconsciousness, 
Why  not  the  more  should  death's  eternal  sleep 
Give  final  surcease  to  our  mortal  toil; 
Extinguish  mind,  aye,  soul — if  such  there  be — 
Annihilate  the  future  with  the  past? 

8  Primitive  man  in  all  ages  has  had  a  singular  respect  for  the 
sun  as  the  source  of  heat  and  light.  The  worship  of  the  sun  as  a 
deity  was  common  and  temples  were  erected  in  his  honor.  The 
stone  ruins  at  Stonehenge  are  now  believed  to  have  marked  a 
temple  to  the  sun  erected  about  1680  B.  c. 


PROLOGUE 


FRIEND 

Aye,  you  have  slept,  but  have  you  never  dreamt? 
Are  dreams  no  hint  of  that  mysterious  state — 
Vague  interregnum  when  the  heartbeats  cease? 
If  we're  to  hold  by  that  criterion, 
Which  is  but  part  of  living  man's  economy, 
And  say,  because  a  sleep  may  be  profound, 
Without  suggestion  of  a  mental  act, 
That  therefore  death  is  one  eternal  blank ; 
Then  we  might  claim  with  equal  show  of  right, 
That  as  our  sleep  is  often  wrought  with  dreams, 
The  sleep  of  death  may  also  have  its  form 
Of  consciousness.  And  as  the  mind  oft  acts 
Without  the  body's  aid,  so  may  the  soul. 

SKEPTIC 

Ah !  soul  is  mind  and  mind  is  not  a  thing, 
But  consequence  of  Matter's  interaction; 
For  Matter  rules — all  else  is  inconceivable. 


FRIEND 

But  why,  I  ask,  why  risk  your  future  fate 
By  snap  decisions  on  so  deep  a  question? 
Accept — at  least  do  not  deny  the  force 
Of  intuition's  sense,  a  sixth  sense,  if  you  please; 


8  CHAOS 

The  sense  at  which  the  great  agnostic  hints.9 
As  all  mankind,  in  every  age  and  clime, 
Has  had  some  vague  conception  of  the  soul, 
Why  not  accord  some  basis  to  this  faith 
Of  deeper  import  than  mere  whim  of  man? 

SKEPTIC 

This  talk  of  soul  is  trite  and  patience  tries. 
For  taking  things  on  faith,  I  have  no  taste. 

FRIEND 

It  is  not  faith,  but  that  subconscious  sense 
That  most  men  feel  but  cannot  analyze; 
For  certain  intuitions  of  mankind 
Lie  deeper  than  the  vulgar  mind  can  probe. 

SKEPTIC 

Let  sciolists  and  faddists  have  their  way 
In  building  doubts  from  creeds  or  creeds  from  doubts. 

FRIEND 

I  only  urge  the  normal  mind  should  take 
An  attitude  of  sane  receptiveness. 
It's  well  observed  that  those  who  rail  the  most 

9  The  great  agnostic — Herbert  Spencer.  But  he  was  not 
alone  in  his  deference  to  the  fundamental  intuitions  of  mankind. 
Euripides  wrote: 

"The  simple  nameless  herd  of  humanity 

Hath  deeds  and  faith  that  are  truth  enough  for  me." 


PROLOGUE 


At  other's  faith  are  oft  the  blindest  slaves, 

Themselves,  of  faith  in  some  new-fangled  cult — 

And  brains  and  culture  seem  to  be  no  bar 

To  this  inherent  weakness  of  the  vain ; 

For  all  that's  sought,  it  seems,  is  novelty, 

Or  anything  that  marks  them  from  the  crowd. 

Another  class  are  those  half  read,  half  trained, 

Who  delve  in  mysteries  beyond  their  ken 

And  take  for  granted  things  that  suit  their  whim, 

Or  help  uphold  the  folly  they  maintain. 

SKEPTIC 

What  things  for  granted  does  the  Atheist  take? 
You  know  his  cult  is  absolute  denial. 

FRIEND 

No,  no,  my  friend,  although  he  cannot  solve 
The  simplest  problem  out  of  Euclid's  book, 
He  quotes  the  distances  of  every  star 
With  firm  conviction,  e'en  their  size  and  weight, 
And  prates  of  things  his  mind  could  never  grasp ; 
Now  what,  pray  tell  me,  what  is  this  but  faith? 
But  I  perceive  you  weary  of  the  theme 
Your  drowsy  lids  but  mock  my  argument — 
I'll  say  good-by  and  wish  you  pleasant  dreams. 

(Exit,  Friend) 
SKEPTIC,  in  reverie.   (Scene  darkens.) 


IO  CHAOS 


ACT  I 

TO-DAY 

SCENE.  Overlooking  the  Hudson  River.  Sunset  beyond 
the  Palisades. 

ARGUMENT.  The  theme  outlined.  Sunset  described  in  the 
purlieus  of  a  great  city.  Reflections  on  the  advance- 
ment of  the  age  in  things  material.  The  failure  of 
civilization  to  keep  pace  with  the  strides  of  Science  and 
Art.  The  passions  of  men  are  the  same  in  every  age. 
The  grandeur  of  the  firmament  and  the  insignificance 
of  man. 

CHORUS 

Our  theme  is  man's  achievements  and  his  end: 
The  universe — its  grandeur  and  decay. 
The  art  of  man  has  weighed  the  distant  stars; 
Deduced  their  orbits,  distances  and  speed; 
Divined  some  inkling  of  their  origin. 
His  skill  has  wrung  her  secrets  from  the  Earth: 
Sounded  her  seas,  explored  their  depths  and  scaled 
Her  mountains;  wormed  himself  into  her  bowels; 
Surveyed  her  strata,  timed  their  place  and  age 
And  made  Creation  comprehensible. 
But  knowledge  ends  at  that  mysterious  gate 


"The  -western  bank  of  Hudson's 
mighty  stream." 


TO-DAY  II 

Called  Death.   To  that  dread  portal  vistas  clear 
Confront  his  vision — out  beyond  there  lie 
The  impenetrable  shadows  of  Eternity. 

SKEPTIC  (in  reverie) 

The  orb  of  day  in  gorgeous  splendor  sinks 
Beyond  the  Palisades  that  grimly  guard 
The  western  bank  of  Hudson's  mighty  stream; 
And  to  mine  ear  there  comes  the  hum  of  life, 
The  murmur  of  the  city's  daily  toil, 
Which  fainter  grows  as  traffic  ebbs  away: 
A  distant  drone  in  deep  dull  monotone, 
Soft  crooning  in  the  vibrant  summer  air; 
Now  chiming  into  cadence  with  the  trees 
As  gentle  zephyrs  stir  their  dark  green  depths 
And  rouse  the  leaves  to  rustling  sibilance. 
Now,  hark !  the  trill  of  birds  the  chorus  joins 
As  fluttering  nestward  their  melodious  notes 
Swell  Nature's  greeting  to  the  reign  of  Night. 

CHORUS 

Great  steamers  cleave  the  waters  with  their  prows 
And  hurl  the  billows  surging  on  the  shores. 
While  flashing  in  the  sunset  glow,  the  sails 
Of  flitting  yachts,  like  moths  before  a  flame, 
Reflect  the  radiant  glory  of  the  sky. 
Anon  is  heard  the  clanking  clash  of  steel; 


12  CHAOS 

Huge  red-eyed  monsters,  hissing  steam  and  smoke, 
Resistless  come  with  rush  and  rumbling  roar, 
Like  flying  serpents  loom  into  the  view 
And  pass  into  the  twilight — bearing  on 
Their  various  burdens  to  their  different  marts. 

SKEPTIC 

Methinks  how  great  the  age  in  which  we  live ; 
How  great  to  join  this  mighty  continent, 
Its  every  part,  with  ringing  ribs  of  steel 
And  make  the  journey  to  Pacific's  coast 
But  three  short  days,  which  would  in  former  times 
Have  taken  weary  months.    And  then  to  send 
The  human  voice  a  thousand  miles  or  more 
Through  wires  charged  by  lightning  from  the  skies. 
And  that  deed  done  to  send  the  message  then 
Unaided  through  the  ether  that  we  breathe ; 
To  store  by  art  on  cylinders  of  wax, 
Or  rubber  discs  of  more  enduring  form, 
For  future  times  to  hear,  the  human  voice 
And  music's  noble  and  enchanting  strain; 
Create  with  ev'ry  pleasing  sound  and  note 
Of  well-appointed  modern  orchestra, 
A  symphony  from  work-day  dynamos; 
Explore  the  source  and  mystery  of  light 
And  vibratory  waves  of  mortal  sense  unfelt; 
To  penetrate  by  Roentgen  rays  and  see 
Through  substances  the  human  eye  cannot; 


TO-DAY  13 

Unloose  the  atoms  from  their  wonted  place — 
Weigh,  count  and  clarify  their  deep  intent; 
And  by  the  spectroscope  disclose  the  state, 
The  speed  and  elements  of  distant  stars. 
Of  its  achievements  surely  Progress  can 
Must  justly  boast,  save  in  the  state  of  man. 

CHORUS 

While  science,  art,  and  manual  skill  improve, 
No  sage  has  found  the  formula  to  change 
The  primal  moral  weakness  of  the  race. 
And  those  defects  of  character  and  heart, 
That  men  were  taught  in  ancient  times  to  shun, 
Are  still  the  rocks  that  wreck  his  happiness. 

SKEPTIC 

For  man  remains  unchanged  throughout  the  years; 
The  same,  in  love,  in  hate,  in  war  and  peace — 
The  just,  unjust,  are  quite  the  same  to-day, 
As  when  the  dawn  of  History  began.10 

CHORUS 

Beneath  the  thin  veneer  and  polish  of  the  times, 
There  lie  concealed  the  passions  of  the  cave. 

10  Well  expressed  in  Kipling's  'General  Summary': 
"We  are  very  slightly  changed 
From  the  semi-apes  who  ranged 
India's  prehistoric  clay." 


14  CHAOS 

But  customs  change — the  crimson  wrath  of  old 
Has  been  refined  to  cold  and  subtle  arts. 
The  body  is  no  longer  lashed — but,  ah ! 
What  thorns  into  tender  heart  are  driven! 
The  basic  thought  that  drove  the  primitive  man 
To  reeking  altars  with  his  sacrifice, 
Is  that  which  raised  the  penal  stake  and  cross, 
The  torture  chamber,  wheel  and  pillory, 
And  underlies  intolerance  to-day ! 

SKEPTIC 

Peruse  again  the  page  of  History, 
Take  heed  the  fate  of  mighty  nations  past 
That  rose  in  ancient  times,  their  zenith  reached 
In  full  development  of  every  art, 
Then  sank  in  hopeless  ruins  on  their  plains. 

CHORUS 

The  amethyst  and  turquoise  of  the  sky, 
The  carmine  glow  and  topaz  hue  are  gone; 
The  sunset  colors  melt  into  a  gray, 
And  one  by  one  the  orbs  of  night  appear. 

SKEPTIC 

There  Venus  shines  resplendent  in  the  west; 
Her  narrow  orbit  does  not  let  her  stray 
Far  from  the  God  of  day.     So  when  she  comes, 


TO-DAY  15 

As  morning  or  as  evening  star,  we  know 

Her  charms  are  destined  not  too  long  to  last;11 

And  even  now  she's  sinking  fast  and  soon 

Will  drop  into  the  gloom.     But  Jupiter, 

The  steadfast  friend  of  earth,  whose  orbit  takes 

Him  thirty  years  to  turn,  shines  steadily — 

More  like  a  beacon  than  celestial  orb. 

While  Mars,  our  ruddy  neighbor  of  the  skies, 

Provokes  the  dwellers  of  this  earth  to  ask, 

If  those  strange  markings,  single  and  in  pairs, 

That  seem  his  world-like  surface  to  indent, 

Can  be  the  work  of  human  hands  like  ours.12 

There  Saturn  with  concentric  rings  appears 

And  shows  to  man  the  way  that  worlds  are  made.  u 

CHORUS 

Now  in  the  east  the  full  round  moon  appears — 
Earth's  satellite  that  rules  the  surging  tides — 
Whose  presence  pales  the  mighty  distant  stars; 
Its  silvery  rays  lend  beauty  to  the  night, 
And  beam  benignly  on  the  land  and  sea. 
Withal  it  is  a  whited  sepulchre — 

11  The  orbit  of  Venus  being  between  that  of  the  earth  and  the 
sun,  the  angle  which  she  may  subtend  during  her  annual  revolu- 
tion is  limited.     Therefore  she  is  never  far  above  the  horizon, 
either  as  an  evening  or  as  a  morning  star. 

12  The   lines   discovered    by,    and    named    after,    the    Italian 
astronomer,  Giovanni  Schiaparelli. 

13  See  note  on  Nebular  Hypothesis,  p.  17. 


16  CHAOS 

Celestial  portent  of  the  fate  of  earth. 
No  atmosphere  to  soothe  the  solar  wrath, 
Its  arid  plains  all  parched  and  waterless; 
Its  sterile  slopes  and  craters  cavernous, 
Reveal  to  man  the  way  that  -worlds  shall  die. 

SKEPTIC 

Out  in  the  deep  blue  vault  of  Heaven  shine 
Vast  suns  to  which  our  sun  is  but  a  grain 
Of  sand ;  whose  light  it  takes  some  thousand  years 
To  reach  our  human  eyes;  and  yet  beyond14 
The  limits  of  the  faintest  stars  revealed 
By  mighty  telescopes  there  well  may  be, 
In  depths  remote,  still  other  stars,  and  Nebulae, 
The  womb  of  suns  and  systems  yet  unborn.16 

CHORUS 

Alas,  how  insignificant  is  man — 
An  atom  by  the  infinite  o'erwhelmed ! 
How  wide,  how  deep  the  universe ;  how  grand, 
Magnificent  the  scale  on  which  it's  planned! 

14  Astronomers  estimate  that  there  are  approximately  one 
billion  stars  within  the  range  of  human  vision  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  modern  telescope.  All  of  these  stars  are  suns 
like  the  great  orb  which  gives  us  day  and  night.  But  our  sun  is 
a  mere  pygmy-  compared  to  the  stupendous  bodies  visible  to  us 
at  night  as  twinkling  stars  in  the  heavens.  The  distances  of 


TO-DAY  I/ 

these  stars  stagger  the  imagination.  To  make  the  figures  compre- 
hensible, astronomers  have  adopted  a  new  unit  of  measurement, 
namely,  the  distance  which  light  traveling  at  the  rate  of  186,000 
miles  every  second  traverses  in  a  year.  This  is  called  a  "light- year." 
Distances  up  to  one  hundred  light-years  have  been  measured  with 
gratifying  accuracy.  Probably  half  of  the  stars  visible  to  the 
naked  eye  are  more  than  four  hundred  light-years  distant;  while 
as  to  the  telescopic  stars  up  to  the  tenth  magnitude  the  majority 
are  probably  over  one  thousand  light-years  from  us.  In  the 
plane  of  the  Milky  Way,  the  stars  probably  extend  in  all  direc- 
tions to  a  distance  of  from  eight  to  ten  thousand  light-years. 
At  right  angles  to  the  plane  of  the  Milky  Way  the  stars  seem  to 
thin  out  considerably  at  five  hundred  light-years  and  none  have 
been  measured  more  than  sixteen  thousand  light-years  from  the 
central  plane.  Our  stellar  system  is  probably  a  vast  flattened 
aggregation  of  stars  about  fifteen  thousand  light-years  in  diameter 
and  from  two  to  three  thousand  light-years  in  thickness.  The 
part  most  thickly  set  with  stars  appears  to  our  view  as  the  "Milky 
Way."  The  smaller  Magellanic  Nebula  in  the  southern  celestial 
sphere  is  said  to  be  at  a  distance  of  thirty  thousand  light-years. 

16  The  Nebular  Hypothesis.  The  presence  of  those  mysterious 
clusters  in  the  heavens  not  only  suggests,  but,  by  their  form,  con- 
stitution and  movement,  gives  apparent  confirmation  to  the 
most  plausible  theory  yet  advanced  for  the  evolution  of  the 
universe.  Nebulae  have  always  been  the  subject  of  keen  interest. 
At  first  they  were  assumed  to  be  only  clusters  of  stars;  but  the 
failure  of  the  largest  telescope  to  resolve  them  into  separate  bodies 
awakened  the  first  doubt  as  to  their  constitution.  Then  came  the 
revelations  of  the  spectroscope  which  showed  them  to  be,  not 
clusters  of  remote  minute  stars,  but  chaotic  aggregations  of 
luminous  matter  showing  clearly  defined  signs  of  spiral,  elliptical 
and  circular  motion. 

The  Nebular  Hypothesis  had  its  inception  successively  and 
independently  in  the  minds  of  Swedenborg,  Kant  and  Laplace. 
Let  us  extend  its  application  by  indulging  in  a  corollary  which 


l8  CHAOS 

the  state  of  physical  science  in  their  day  would  not  have  justi- 
fied: 

Assume  all  of  the  primary  elements  lying  dormant  in  the  vast 
void  of  the  universe.  Without  motion  there  can  be  no  heat. 
In  the  intense  cold  of  the  great  void  the  gaseous  elements  would 
be  first  liquefied,  then  solidified.  (Oxygen,  Nitrogen  and  Hydro- 
gen have  been  solidified  by  man  by  ingenious  processes.)  The 
moment  that  the  process  of  liquefaction  or  solidification  set  in 
the  law  of  gravitation  would  instantly  become  a  factor  in  their 
destiny.  Centers  of  gravity  form ;  attractions  are  generated  and 
movement  begins.  With  movement  comes  friction,  heat,  com- 
bustion, and  light.  With  heat  the  gaseous  elements  are  dissolved 
from,  solid  form  into  liquids  or  assume  their  gaseous  state.  The 
heaviest  elements,  singly  or  in  combination,  will  form  Nuclei 
toward  which  the  others  will  gravitate.  Affinities  assert  them- 
selves and  as  the  elements  converge,  cross  or  touch  one  another 
in  the  great  maelstrom,  chemical  combinations  are  made  and 
new  substances  take  birth. 

The  converging  masses  assume  spherical  forms.  As  more  and 
more  aggregations  of  matter  impinge  on  the  embryo  spheres,  it 
would  be  a  miracle  if  they  were  all  evenly  distributed.  The  slightest 
irregularity  would  change  the  balance  and  set  up  a  rotary  motion 
— a  motion  which  the  surrounding  atmosphere  and  particles 
within  the  zone  of  gravitation  would  quite  reasonably  follow. 
When  the  central  masses  condensed  sufficiently  they  would  mani- 
fest themselves  as  stars  or  suns  with  vaporous  masses  about 
them  extending  to  the  limits  of  their  range  of  attraction.  As 
condensation  proceeded  the  central  masses  would  be  detached 
and  the  vaporous  envelopes  would  divide  into  rings — each  ring 
the  progenitor  of  a  planetary  system.  We  may  imagine  the 
same  process  to  go  on  in  the  condensation  of  the  planetary  rings  in 
the  formation  of  satellites.  Saturn  with  his  rings  stands  out  to-day 
as  an  example  of  world-making  fortunately  vouchsafed  for  our 
study  and  reflection.  The  density  of  Saturn  is  less  than  that  of 
water.  The  planet  is  in  its  formative  state.  It  will,  no  doubt, 


TO-DAY  19 

pass  through  the  same  process  as  the  earth — Oxygen  and  Hydro- 
gen forming  water;  Oxygen  and  Nitrogen  forming  an  atmosphere. 
The  heavier  matters  contained  in  the  surrounding  envelope, 
attracted  to  the  planet,  will  break  through  the  atmosphere, 
impinge  on  the  water,  sink  to  the  center  and  solidify  in  due 
course.  The  Nebulae  in  Orion,  Andromeda,  Lyra  and  Canes 
Venatici  are  visible  examples  of  how  solar  systems  are  evolved. 


2O  CHAOS 


ACT  II 

TO-MORROW 

ARGUMENT.  The  skeptic,  in  a  dream,  views  as  a  spectator, 
apart  from  the  world,  its  progress  and  decay  through 
many  ages.  Beholds  wars  and  internecine  dissensions 
of  the  races.  The  improvidence  of  man  and  its  punish- 
ment: sterility,  plague  and  famine.  Old  age  of  the 
world. 

CHORUS 

Long  ages  seem  to  pass  as  in  a  dream. 
Before  us  panoramic  visions  rise : 
Of  man,  his  life  and  growth,  and  future  fate; 
Of  earth,  its  changes  in  the  course  of  time. 

SKEPTIC 

I  seem  to  drift  in  upper  air  serene 
And  view  with  vague  delight  the  rolling  sphere. 
Before  me  lies  a  virgin  plain  untrod 
Up  sloping  gently  from  the  silver  sea. 
I  gaze  again — as  if  by  magic's  art — 
There  come  the  signs  of  life,  the  homes  of  men. 
And  these  increase  in  number  as  I  gaze, 
Until  the  village  has  become  a  town ; 
The  town,  a  city  of  enormous  size. 


TO-MORROW  21 


CHORUS 

The  city's  streets  encroach  on  farm  and  field ; 
The  wood,  the  dell,  the  babbling  brook  are  gone, 
And  nature's  beauties,  by  the  vandal  hand 
Of  highly  wrought  refinement,  have  been  marred. 
The  iron  rails  of  traffic  span  the  earth ; 
The  smoke  and  steam  of  factories  obscure 
The  purple  vault  of  Heaven  with  its  stars; 
Their  chimneys  quite  o'ercap  the  churches'  spires; 

SKEPTIC 

Throughout  the  streets  and  avenues  appear 
Inhabitants  preoccupied  with  all 
The  joys  and  sorrows  of  their  narrow  lives. 
And  thus  the  world  in  every  part  becomes 
The  home  of  teeming  millions  of  mankind. 

CHORUS 

But  yet  man  seems,  though  skilled  in  every  art, 
To  cling  persistently  to  savage  ways 
And  scorn  the  gentle  voice  of  Charity  and  Peace; 
For  moral  sense  still  keeps  in  infancy, 
And  foolish  man  has  failed  to  grasp  the  thought : 
That  though  his  wealth  should  rival  Croesus'  dream, 
And  culture  reach  its  apex  in  all  arts; 
Though  science  penetrate  through  every  veil, 
That  keeps  the  unknown  from  his  vision,  yet, 
If  not  applied  to  help  his  fellow-man, 
The  strides  of  knowledge  and  of  art  are  vain. 


22  CHAOS 

SKEPTIC 

Contending  armies  battle  on  the  land, 
And  steel-clad  navies  on  the  ocean  clash. 
Upon  their  issue  destiny  appears 
To  hang  the  fate  of  all  the  trembling  world. 
Then  greedy  powers  rob  their  prostrate  foes; 
Assign  among  themselves  and  loyal  friends 
Their  so-called  separate  spheres  of  influence! 
Thus  nations  rise  and  fall  and  maps  are  changed. 


CHORUS 

Grim  war  shall  last  while  greed  and  hate  endure; M 
So  long  as  locks  and  bolts  our  treasures  guard, 
Or  watchmen  pace  the  narrow  dimlit  street ; 
So  long  as  oaths  are  taken  in  our  courts 
Or  bonds  demanded  to  secure  just  debts; 

16  Since  this  was  written  the  greatest  war  in  history  has  been 
fought  and  twelve  million  of  the  manhood  of  the  world  and 
countless  numbers  of  its  womanhood  have  fallen  in  battle  or  died 
in  consequence  of  its  accompanying  horrors.  By  so  much  has  the 
potentiality  of  the  human  race  for  future  civilization  been  de- 
pleted and  impaired.  In  so  far  as  paganistic  ideas  may  have 
been  crushed  and  higher  ideals  stimulated  in  the  human  mind, 
let  us  hope  that  the  world  is  better  for  the  sacrifice.  Yet,  judging 
from  the  attitude  of  some  of  the  nations  at  the  peace  table — 
their  greed,  their  selfishness — there  is  little  ground  for  hope  that 
they  have  taken  seriously  to  heart  the  true  lesson  of  the  war. 


TO-MORROW  23 


So  long  as  vice  impels  the  human  heart 
And  self's  the  mainspring  of  a  sordid  world. 
While  kings  for  greed  invoke  the  God  of  War 
So  long  must  nations  stand  upon  their  guard. 
Against  the  curse  of  war  there's  one  recourse — 
The  sword  is  yet  its  own  best  antidote. 
Against  injustice  to  resist  is  right — 
When  Might  offends  the  only  shield  is  Might! 


SKEPTIC 

Internal  strife  embitters  every  land; 
The  rich  still  richer  grow,  the  poor  more  poor; 
The  tyranny  of  Capital  bears  down 
Its  yoke  relentless  on  the  toiler's  neck — 
An  ill  much  greater  than  abuse  of  kings. 
Injustice,  Hate  and  Fear  go  hand  in  hand; 
Domestic  strife  divides  the  husband,  wife; 
Their  children  often  bitter  foes  of  both ; 
The  courts  of  law  still  gravely  sit  with  pomp 
In  technical  denial  of  equity; 


CHORUS 

And  votes  are  brazen  bought  and  brazen  sold. 
In  every  walk  of  life  Corruption  stalks 
With  smiling  face  to  coax  the  weakling  man — 
Her  right  hand  holds  the  shining  cursed  gold; 


24  CHAOS 

But  in  its  midst  is  hid  the  canker  worm  of  death 
And  all  who  touch  it  fester  at  the  heart — 
Both  they  and  their  posterity  are  curst. 


SKEPTIC 

Vast  steamers  swarm  in  every  gulf  and  bay 
And  streak  the  greater  oceans  with  their  foam. 
While  in  the  air  audacious  man  in  glee 
Has  shamed  the  feathered  couriers  of  the  sky. 


CHORUS 

The  ten  commandments,  which  on  Zion's  Mount 
To  Moses,  prophet  of  the  Jews,  were  given, 
Are  idly  mouthed  or  calmly  laughed  to  scorn — 
The  symbols  of  a  better  age  o'erthrown 
And  pagan  idols  in  their  places  raised — 
Upon  all  sides  decadence  swiftly  spreads. 

By  paradox  unique  an  attribute, 
Most  worthy  and  sublime — the  love  of  Him, 
The  great  first  cause,  the  Father  of  Mankind, 
Has  been  transformed  to  anger,  hate  and  fear. 
A  thousand  creeds  divide  the  human  race. 
Each  claims  its  own,  the  only  road  to  bliss, 
And  vows  all  others  doomed  to  Hell's  Abyss. 


TO-MORROW  25 


SKEPTIC 

The  Christian  creed  in  scores  of  warring  sects 
Is  split  in  vain  dissensions  o'er  mere  texts 
From  the  great  book  from  which  they  all  have  sprung. 
As  though  a  God  all  merciful  and  just 
Would  spurn  the  longing  of  a  single  soul, 
Sincerely  striving  to  attain  His  love, 
Obey  His  law  and  pay  Him  reverence. 
Thus  foolish  man  vies  with  his  fellow-man, 
To  reach  the  goal  of  Heaven's  Golden  Gate 
By  wrangling  on  diverging  paths  of  hate. 

CHORUS 

In  earlier  days  there  had  been  some  respect 
For  virtue — heroes  smiling  gave  their  blood 
For  freedom  and  uplifting  of  the  race; 
But  when  the  growth  of  luxury  increased 
And  competition  keener  had  become, 
Both  envious  pride  and  selfish  greed  combined 
To  make  men  fight  like  soulless  animals 
For  mere  existence ;  then  the  good  Samaritan 
Was  banished  from  their  lives,  and  in  his  place 
Were  Hate  and  Fear  and  unfair  Rivalry. 

Despite  its  noble  past  it  is  a  dying  race ; 
For  white  and  yellow,  brown,  red,  black  are  one, 
And  all  the  divers  tribes  of  each,  which  have, 
Throughout  long  ages,  warred  with  varying  fate 


26  CHAOS 

In  struggles  for  supremacy,  are  merged 

Into  a  common  stream  of  mediocrity — 

The  vices  of  the  worst  commingled  with 

The  vices  of  the  best;  the  virtues  of 

The  best  dragged  down  to  one  dead  average. 

And  in  their  selfish  aims,  their  lust,  their  greed, 

They  quite  forget  there  comes  a  day  of  reckoning. 

SKEPTIC 

The  fertile  land,  that  once  so  fairly  bloomed 
With  every  blessing  of  the  field  and  vine, 
Is  desolate,  and  deserts  mark  the  site 
Of  splendid  cities,  populous  and  great. 

CHORUS 

The  forest  shade  that  dulled  the  sun's  fierce  ray 
And  tempered  winds  that  blew  from  ice-chilled  lands; 
Whose  gnarled  and  tangled  roots  upheld  the  soil 
And  stayed  the  angry  rivers'  ruthless  flood ; 
Whose  verdure  drew  the  welcome  rain  and  made 
The  earth  to  smile  in  beauty  and  abundance; 
Ungrateful  man,  unmindful  of  the  past, 
Has  burned  in  wilful  waste,  or  hewed  for  greed 
To  fill  the  gaping  jaws  of  Industry.17 

17  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  beginning  of  the  downfall  of 
many  ancient  lands  may  be  directly  traced  to  their  disregard  of 
forest  preservation.  To-day  the  making  of  paper  from  wood 


TO-MORROW  27 


Oh,  Man  improvident!  insensible  that  Fate 
Condemns  the  least  infraction  of  the  Law, 
That  Wisdom  throughout  nature  hath  ordained, 
And  for  each  trespass,  soon  or  late,  exacts, 
Without  a  qualm,  her  meed  of  punishment — 
Ye  have  lacked  in  every  age  the  foresight  to  preserve 
The  source  from  which  your  greatest  gifts  have  come, 
And  now  behold  your  cherished  cities  meet, 
With  all  their  art,  their  learning,  and  their  wealth, 
The  doom  of  Ninevah  and  Babylon ! 

Now  plague  and  famine  show  their  heads  abhorred 
And  sweep  their  countless  millions  off  the  earth. 
In  vain  the  farmer  tills  the  sterile  soil ; 
The  roots  are  withered  e'er  the  shoots  have  grown — 
The  soil  is  barren  for  the  world  is  old. 

pulp  and  the  greed  of  industry  in  cutting  down  our  forests  en- 
dangers the  future  of  man  and  requires  that  immediate  steps  be 
taken  co-operatively  by  all  the  nations  of  the  world  to  put  into 
practice  the  wise  precaution  that  for  every  tree  cut  down  another 
should  be  planted. 


28  CHAOS 


ACT  III 

THE  END  OF  MAN 

ARGUMENT.  The  skeptic,  having  witnessed  the  culmina- 
tion, now  beholds  the  running  down  of  progress — The 
gradual  depopulation  of  the  Earth.  General  desolation. 
The  ruins  of  great  cities  described.  The  death  of 
the  last  man.  Observations  on  the  futility  of  human 
achievements  and  ambitions. 

SKEPTIC 

The  sun  now  shines  with  fainter  light  than  when 
In  earlier  days  it  stirred. a  fertile  globe 
With  myriad  forms  of  palpitating  life; 
His  feeble  rays  of  reddish  orange  hue 
Diffuse  on  earth  a  hazy  twilight  glow. 

CHORUS 

The  panorama  now  appears  reversed — 
Instead  of  life,  activity  and  growth, 
That  in  the  former  pictures  were  so  marked, 
There  seems  to  be  a  running  down,  as  when 
A  clock  exhausted  slowly  tolls  the  hour. 
The  icy  caps  that  decked  the  poles 


"The  steel-framed  structures  that 
once  pierced  the  sky." 


THEENDOFMAN  29 

With  narrow  margins,  toward  Equator  creep, 
In  snow-white,  fate-like,  rings  of  death; 18 

SKEPTIC 

The  towns  and  cities  that  once  spread  the  plains 
Seem  palpably  to  shrink  before  my  view — 
Their  buildings  gently  crumble  into  earth. 

CHORUS 

The  steel-framed  structures  that  once  pierced  the  sky, 
And  were  the  marvel  of  man's  handiwork, 
Have  tottered  to  their  doom  reluctantly. 
The  brick  and  stone  that  cased  their  skeletons 
Have  sunk  into  the  dust  about  their  base; 
While  pier  and  girder  web-like  naked  stand 
Sad  relics  of  man's  bootless  industry. 
And  when  the  earth  revolves  its  back  upon 
The  fading  sun,  and  twilight's  feeble  glow 
Has  changed  to  inky  night,  the  twinkling  stars 
Gleam  mockingly  between  the  iron  tracery. 

18  This  refers  to  the  return  of  the  glacial  period,  which  will 
probably  be  the  precurser  of  the  end  of  the  world  as  a  place  of 
habitation.  The  next  recurrence,  ending  the  present  geologic 
stage,  may  not,  and  most  probably  will  not,  end  the  world's  life 
history.  The  finding  of  extensive  coal-beds  within  the  Arctic 
and  Antarctic  circles  indicates  a  prolific  vegetation  in  those 
regions  which  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  variation  in  the 
inclination  of  the  earth's  axis  to  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic  during 
the  course  of  the  revolution  of  our  solar  system  through  the 
great  nebula  of  which  our  solar  system  forms  a  part. 


3O  CHAOS 

SKEPTIC 

Great  bridges  that  once  spanned  the  rivers'  tide — 
Colossus-like  in  towering  majesty 
Of  stone  and  steel — erected  with  a  skill 
That  taxed  the  ingenuity  of  man; 
Beneath  whose  interlacing  members  passed 
The  tallest  masts  of  ships  that  sailed  the  seas; 
Now  fallen  and  dismembered  choke  the  course 
Through  which  the  tumbling  waters  roar,  and  wake 
Resounding  murmurs  from  the  death-like  shores. 

CHORUS 

Where  once  the  streets  and  avenues  have  rung 
With  human  steps  and  traffic's  noisy  strain ; 
With  sounds  of  joy  or  mortal  agony; 
A  strange  dread  silence  now  pervades  the  scene. 
Anon  the  sparse  inhabitants  emerge 
From  out  their  shelter  in  some  ruined  shrine 
And  totter  feebly,  aimlessly  about; 
Their  footsteps  echo  in  once  busy  streets 
Like  heart  beats  in  a  dismal  sepulchre. 

SKEPTIC 

My  vision  now  seems  limited  to  grow; 
Instead  of  broad  expanse  of  land  and  sea, 
Diversified  by  mountain,  vale  and  bay, 
I  see  a  parching  plain  with  many  stones 
Of  various  shapes  in  great  disorder  strewn — 


"Great  bridges  that  once  spanned 
the  river's  tide." 


THE     END     OF     MAN  31 

The  ruins  of  some  old  metropolis. 
Unburied  bodies  lie  in  heaps  around 
And  bones  of  mortals  bleaching  on  the  sand. 
There  is  no  sign  of  life  save  in  one  place, 
That  seems  the  cellar  of  some  ancient  edifice. 

CHORUS 

Behold,  within  is  spread  a  rough  skin  rug 
And  on  it  lies  a  man  in  writhing  agony. 
His  breath  comes  fast  and  restless  move  his  arms; 
Anon  he  plaintive  calls  a  woman's  name — 19 
Now  all  is  still! 

SKEPTIC 

But,  look!  there  seems  to  rise 
A  mist-like  thing  or  shape  of  shadowy  form; 
But  yet  of  beauty  undefinable; 
Mysterious,  weird,  and  awe-inspiring: 
And,  as  it  hovers  for  a  moment  by 
The  body  whence  it  seems  to  emanate, 
The  air  is  filled  with  perfume  of  sweet  flowers. 
Dread  premonitions  fill  my  tortured  mind — 
I  dare  not  question  what  it  all  can  mean. 

CHORUS 

It  means  the  end  of  man  and  end  of  earth! 

19  Woman — the  strongest  and  most  enduring  tie  that  binds 
man  to  earth. 


32  CHAOS 

SKEPTIC 

Thus  dies  the  race  that  aimed  to  pierce  the  veil 
Of  things  eternal  and  of  things  unknown! 
Yes,  this  the  race  perfection  hoped  to  reach 
In  youthful  dreams  of  the  millennium. 

CHORUS 

What  counts  ambition  now,  or  miser's  greed — 
What  recks  the  toil  by  which  their  ends  were  reached? 
The  power  and  pelf  of  all  the  world  shall  fade  ! 
Where  is  the  gain  when  all  must  pass  away? 

SKEPTIC 

A  library  far-famed  in  all  the  land, 
Upon  a  hill  in  stately  ruin  stands; 
Resisting  time  and  dissolution's  force 
With  utmost  strength  of  massive  masonry. 
A  fungus  growth  half  cloaks  the  crumbling  walls — 
Kind  nature's  aid  to  hide  the  scars  of  time. 
The  columns  of  the  grand  fagade 
Uphold  no  more  the  shattered  pediment; 
The  dome  and  roof  have  fallen  to  decay, 
And  block  the  aisles  and  corridors  in  which 
The  learning  of  long  ages  has  been  stored. 
Books!  books!  aisle  after  aisle  and  tier  on  tier — 
Unread,  unopened,  thick  with  dust  of  years! 


"A  library  far-famed  in 
all  the  land." 


THEENDOFMAN  33 

I  gaze  in  sadness,  while  upon  me  creeps, 
A  shade  of  awe,  unspeakable  regret, 
That  here  man's  wisdom  has  its  limit  reached ! 
That  here  the  fame  of  sage  and  poet  ends — 
Between  the  covers  of  these  musty  tomes! 
What  toil  and  mental  energy  were  spent! 
What  pains,  discouragements,  ambitions  wrecked, 
While  their  poor  authors  strove  for  name  and  fame! 


CHORUS 

A  fame,  alas,  not  more  enduring  now 
Than  that  of  those  who  lived  without  a  thought 
Of  present  or  of  future  praise  or  blame. 
Oh,  Fame!  thou  art  a  futile  bubble  blown, 
The  toy  of  fate,  the  idol  of  great  minds! 


SKEPTIC 

The  hall  wherein  the  Legislature  sat 
(Vicarious  symbol  of  a  pygmy  race), 
Pretentious  capitol  that  was,  is  now 
No  more.  The  ornate  arch  and  sculptured  vault, 
The  columns,  stairs,  the  rail  and  balustrade 
All  richly  wrought,  lie  broken  and  awry ; 
And  midst  the  crumbling  statues  of  the  great 
The  screech  owl  sits  in  solemn  irony. 


34  CHAOS 

CHORUS 

Here  orators  descanted  on  the  times 
And  tried  to  turn  the  course  of  nature  back, 
In  vain  attempts  to  make  man  good  by  rule 
Until  all  sense  of  human  liberty  was  lost; 
Oblivious  that  by  nature's  higher  law 
It  is  ordained  that  those  who  fall  to  vice, 
A  prey  to  their  own  weakness,  are  not  meant 
To  flourish  or  perpetuate  the  race. 
Forgetting  this  their  vain  effeminate  laws 
Destroyed  all  strength  of  will,  all  exercise 
Of  moral  force  and  quelled  initiative — 
Pampered,  humored,  circumscribed  as  well — 
And  thus  upraised  a  coddled  race  of  weaklings.20 

SKEPTIC 

The  high-domed  Court  where  Justice  sat  enthroned, 
Coerced  to  blush  as  her  gold-burnished  scales 
Insidiously  sank  to  either  side, 
And  wished  the  bandage  from  her  eyes  withdrawn 
To  wield  the  sword  her  helpless  hand  engrasped; 

20  You  cannot  legislate  into  the  human  heart  the  ten  command- 
ments. They  were  written  on  stone.  Think  of  thatl  You  can- 
not make  men  good  or  sober  or  virtuous  by  law;  but  you  may 
destroy  the  human  will  by  law.  If  men  cannot  live  cleanly 
nature  sentences  them  to  death.  If  nations  do  not  live  uprightly 
they  too  must  die. 


THEENDOFMAN  35 

Where  lawyers  quibbled,  litigants  forswore 

And  truth  discouraged  trembled  at  the  door. 

The  shrine  wherein  the  preacher  marked  the  way, 

That  man  should  go  to  win  eternal  life — 

The  narrow  way  which  he  himself  hath  sped — 

Oblivious  of  all  other  ways  than  his, 

Which  might  as  likely  lead  to  God's  eternal  throne; 

The  school  of  learning  where  the  restless  seer, 

Tugged  at  the  veil  of  the  unknowable — 

All,  all  are  sunk  in  crumbling  ruined  heaps! 


CHORUS 

In  yonder  field  where  once  the  willows  grew, 
Were  serried  ranks  of  humble  soldier  dead — 
The  graves  of  those  whose  only  claim  to  fame 
Was  that  they  fought  the  battles  of  their  land. 
Above  each  grassy  mound  a  modest  slab 
But  briefly  told  their  date  of  birth  and  death, 
Their  name,  their  Company  and  Regiment. 
O'ershadowing  these  were  huge  majestic  shafts, 
With  graven  records  of  more  glorious  deeds — 
As  if  'twere  nobler  to  give  up  one's  life, 
In  epaulets  on  horseback  than  on  foot. 
The  pride  of  birth  and  arrogance  of  place 
Are  here  reduced,  in  last  analysis, 
To  common  clay  from  which  they  all  have  sprung. 


36  CHAOS 

SKEPTIC 

Of  what  avail  are  monuments  high  reared 
Above  insensate  clay;  how  vain  the  hope, 
That  lingers  in  the  breast  of  man,  to  keep, 
By  crumbling  stone  and  fading  epitaph, 
Posterity  apprised  of  mortal  fame, 
That  dies  with  the  last  man  to  read  the  tale. 

CHORUS 

The  marble  mausoleum  of  the  rich; 
The  lofty  shaft  above  the  warrior's  bones, 
No  higher  stand  nor  more  conspicuous 
Than  humble  slab  that  marks  the  plowman's  grave! 
And  show — strange  irony  of  human  fate — 
The  vanity  of  worldly  ostentation, 
When  none  are  left  to  profit  by  the  lesson. 


'The  crumbling  world  is  vitrified 
and  bare." 


DISINTEGRATION  37 


ACT  IV 

DISINTEGRATION 

ARGUMENT.  The  skeptic  beholds  a  world  vitrified  and 
bare — no  sign  of  vegetation  or  water.  The  seas  have 
dried  up.  Suddenly  the  whole  earth  crumbles  before 
his  gaze.  Is  overwhelmed  with  horror  at  his  isolation. 
The  sun  gradually  fades  and  disappears.  He  now 
becomes  conscious  that  he  is  without  material  form. 
Drifts  through  the  universe.  The  end  of  gravitation 
and  of  nature's  laws.  The  reign  of  Disintegration 
begins.  The  gradual  disappearance  of  the  stars. 
Hears  the  thunders  and  beholds  the  myriad  scintilla- 
tions of  their  final  disintegration. 

CHORUS 

Now  turn  your  glance  upon  a  purpled  sky, 
Bedecked  with  constellations,  and  behold 
The  solemn  sweep  of  systems  through  the  universe. 
Red  comets  flash  on  their  erratic  course 
Past  stars  that  faithful  keep  their  orbits'  path —  21 
The  shining  milestones  of  Eternity. 

51  With  respect  to  the  earth  and  the  solar  system,  the  stars 
have  no  orbit.  With  respect  to  us  pygmies  in  the  vast  universe, 
they  are  fixed  and  immovable.  Yet  they  are  doubtless  pursuing 


38  CHAOS 

SKEPTIC 

The  desert  world  shines  with  a  pallid  light; 
There  is  no  sign  of  verdure  on  the  plains; 
The  streams  are  dried,  the  forests  all  are  gone; 
The  seas  no  longer  lap  the  sloping  shores; 
The  foaming  cataracts  at  last  are  still — 
No  breath  of  life  bestirs  the  livid  waste. 

CHORUS 

The  human  race  has  passed  and  left  no  mark 
Of  its  achievements,  habitation  there 
Throughout  the  countless  years;  nor  yet  the  trace 
Of  wondrous  lower  life,  that  was  the  spur 
Of  thought  to  man,  is  seen.  The  spider's  web; 
The  hill  of  ants  and  labyrinths  within ; 
The  nests  of  birds  intelligently  wrought; 
And  all  the  marvels  of  the  living  world 
Have  long  been  swept  into  oblivion. 

SKEPTIC 

The  crumbling  world  is  vitrified  and  bare — 
Lo !  while  I  gaze,  from  some  internal  force, 

their  magnificent  way  in  regular  rotation — even  as  our  sun  and 
his  satellites  are  moving  onward  upon  their  appointed  path. 
Astronomers  are  generally  agreed  that  there  is  a  well-established 
movement  of  our  solar  system  in  the  general  direction  of  Vega, 
in  the  constellation  of  Lyra. 


DISINTEGRATION  39 

Its  surface  breaks  into  a  thousand  forms, 

Which  burst  apart  and  scatter  like  a  shell 

Ejected  from  some  huge  artillery ! 

A  flash  of  flame  that  marks  the  fateful  blast, 

A  cloud  of  smoke  that  follows  in  its  wake 

Attract  the  eye  a  moment  and  dissolve. 

The  fragments  spread  throughout  the  cavernous  void 

And  vanish  like  the  dust  before  the  wind ! 


CHORUS 

A  deep  resounding  crash  abruptly  breaks 
In  monstrous  volume  ripping  through  the  void! 
The  ether  trembles  at  the  awful  shock, 
Then  rolling  onward  rumbling  into  space 
It  sinks  into  a  murmur  and  expires. 


SKEPTIC 

'Twas  day  a  moment  since,  but  now  'tis  night. 
Without  the  vanished  Earth's  reflected  light, 
A  deep  and  solemn  shade  o'erspreads  the  scene. 
I  seem  transfixed  and  poised  within 
The  hollow  of  the  great  celestial  sphere. 
The  glittering  stars  make  radiant  the  depths — 
Above,  beneath,  on  every  side  they  gleam 
With  cold  and  calm  relentless  brilliancy 
And  taunting  mock  my  helpless  isolation. 


40  CHAOS 

Disconsolate  I  gaze  in  poignant  grief. 
Up  to  this  moment  I  have  had  some  hope — 
An  undefined  and  subtle  confidence, 
That  all  these  changing  scenes  were  but  a  dream; 
That  soon  or  late  I  should  return  to  earth. 
But  now  when  I  perceive  my  refuge  gone, 
Without  a  thought  or  hope  of  other  port, 
A  chill  of  horror  overwhelms  my  heart — 
Such  horror  as  might  fill  the  mind  of  some 
Poor  mariner  marooned  upon  a  rock 
To  die  alone  out  on  the  boundless  sea. 

Like  traveller  returned  from  wandering, 
Who  halts  afar  to  gaze  upon  the  scene 
Of  boyhood's  haunts  and  home  he  had  so  loved, 
And  finds  no  trace  of  those  familiar  signs, 
His  memory  had  cherished  through  the  years; 
So  I  gaze  vainly,  anxiously  and  long 
Upon  the  void  where  once  the  world  revolved. 

The  sun,  which  for  some  time,  has  grown  more  dim, 
Now  drowsily  it  drags  athwart  the  sky, 
With  molten  metal's  deep  expiring  glow. 
Upon  me  now  there  dawns  the  weird  import 
Of  that  dull  disc  in  heaven's  darkling  vault. 

CHORUS 

Art  thou  the  famed  Aurora  of  the  classic  age, 
Whose  chariot  swept  the  eastern  sky  at  morn 


"Art  thou  the  famed  Aurora  of 
the  classic  age?" 


DISINTEGRATION  4! 

And  touched  the  clouds  and  mountain  tops  with  fire? 
Aye,  this  is  the  genial  sun  whose  rising  gleam, 
Once  waked  the  birds  to  sing  their  morning  hymn ; 
Whose  radiance  hung  the  dew-clad  trees  with  pearls, 
And  warmed  again  the  fecund  earth  to  life! 
To  this  sad  state  has  sunk  the  bounteous  source 
Whence  flowed  the  vital  force  of  many  worlds! 
Fainter  and  fainter  grow  the  dying  rays, 
At  last  its  outline  softly,  slowly  blends 
Upon  the  sullen  background  of  the  sky ! 
'Tis  but  a  spot,  a  ghastly  blur — 'tis  naught 
But  one  dead  cinder  more  in  heaven's  mighty  deep! 

SKEPTIC 

Anon  my  meditation  is  disturbed 
By  consciousness  of  some  o'ermastering  force, 
That  bears  me  irresistibly  away. 
I  feel  the  sense  of  inward  struggle  strong; 
But  seem  to  know  to  struggle  were  in  vain. 
Then  comes  the  shock,  the  fearful  consciousness, 
That  I  am  now  without  material  form — 
A  spiritual  speck  aswirl  in  space; 
An  atom  fluttering  in  the  star  beams! 

Then  like  an  arrow  darting  to  its  goal 
Among  the  shining  stars  my  path  is  shaped. 
But,  ah,  how  changed!  the  Pleiades  have  lost 
Not  one,  but  many  orbs;  Orion  stands 


42  CHAOS 

Shorn  of  his  belt  and  shining  sword; 

Rigel  and  Betelgeuse  are  fading  fast. 

The  Little  Bear  and  Polar  Star  whose  ray 

Has  guided  long  poor  mortals  on  their  way; 

Vega,  Arcturus  and  Capella's  glow, 

That  once  did  make  night  brilliant  on  old  earth, 

Have  sunk  into  the  shadow  of  the  past. 

The  Sailors'  Plow,  Great  Bear,  and  Southern  Cross 

And  all  the  constellations  I  have  loved, 

Are  crippled  remnants  of  their  former  selves; 

And  that  trite  phrase  philosophers  have  wrought 

About  the  'Eternal'  stars  is  proved  awry. 


From  star  to  star  in  ceaseless  round  I  reel 
And  at  each  circuit  see  some  orb  decay. 
Yes,  one  by  one  the  stars  recede  and  die, 
Or  break  in  countless  atoms  on  my  view. 

CHORUS 

Disintegration  now  begins  its  reign 
And  nothing  seems  to  hold  its  entity. 
Cohesion  and  affinity  that  kept 
The  molecules  and  atoms  in  their  place 
And  gave  to  matter  its  variety, 
Its  properties  and  attributes,  are  dead; 
And  in  their  place  repulsion  is  the  rule. 
The  basic  elements  are  now  unloosed, 


DISINTEGRATION  43 

Resolved  into  their  primal  form  and  fly 
Precipitate  to  outer  realms  of  space. 
For  gravitation's  force  has  ceased  to  act 
And  marks  the  end  of  nature's  cherished  laws. 

SKEPTIC 

'Tis  thus  with  matter,  what  now  of  the  soul — 
If  such  there  is — shall  it  too  pass  away? 
So  I  have  thought,  and  still  am  doomed  to  think. 
It  were  a  shame  indeed  if  those  great  minds, 
Whose  deeds  advanced  the  welfare  of  the  race; 
Whose  labors  lent  a  halo  to  their  age, 
Should  be  resolved  at  last  to  nothingness. 
Eternal  justice  wakes  the  pregnant  thought, 
Whate'er  the  fate  of  things  material, 
Oblivion  shall  not  claim  the  human  soul. 

CHORUS 

Now  crash  on  crash  alarms  the  silent  void ; 
The  infinite  sphere  is  rent  with  shriek  and  roar — 
No  mortal  ear  could  bear  the  awful  din — 
As  thunders  piled  on  thunders,  far  and  near, 
Reverberate  and  echo  from  the  depths. 
While  lights  fantastic  gleam  on  every  side ; 
From  merest  specks  at  first,  they  swelling  grow 
Like  trembling  rainbows,  lace  and  interlace ; 
Break  into  myriad  forms  and  scintillate, 
Until  the  double  arch  of  heaven's  vault, 
Vibrates  and  thrills  with  weird  supernal  light. 


44  CHAOS 

Then  by  degrees  the  violent  glare  abates; 
The  varied  colors  blend  and  slowly  fade. 
As  when  the  summer's  thunder-storm  is  past, 
The  fitful  glow  of  lightning  sweeps  the  sky ; 
So  now  the  lightning's  flash  illumes  the  closing  scene 
And  distant  thunders  mutter  in  the  void — 
Then  all  is  dark  and  still. 


"A  peace- dispensing  radiance 
filled  the  scene." 


THE      SKEPTIC     IN     CHAOS  45 


ACT  V 

THE  SKEPTIC  IN  CHAOS 

ARGUMENT.  Cimmerian  darkness  realized.  No  light,  no 
life,  no  sound.  Awakening  of  the  soul,  rebellion. 
Ceaseless  motion  for  long  ages  through  the  immeasur- 
able depths  of  space.  A  spirit  derelict.  Agony  and 
despair.  A  cry  for  mercy.  Consciousness  of  other 
souls'  existence. 

CHORUS 

Now  has  arrived  the  all-enduring  night! 
And  in  the  broad  expanse  of  universe 
No  friendly  orb  remains  to  guide  the  way. 
Cimmerian  darkness  is  at  last  conceived; 
All  light,  all  life,  all  sound  has  ceased — the  universe 
Is  silent,  still,  throughout  its  infinite  extent — 
A  silence  deep  and  awful  as  eternity. 

SKEPTIC 

And  I  alone  am  left  in  the  appalling  shade — 
The  only  conscious  speck  in  all  the  void* 
The  only  thing  that  keeps  its  entity; 
The  only  living  atom  in  the  wreck  of  worlds. 


46  CHAOS 

Up  to  this  moment  I  endure  the  pain 
Of  my  abandonment  with  stoic  zeal 
And  have  not  sought  to  question  what  I  was, 
Or  what  my  destiny;  for  soon  methought 
This  dream,  infliction  or  whate'er  it  is, 
Will  doubtless  end  in  everlasting  sleep. 


I  seem  to  thread  eternal  fastnesses — 
Now  falling  from  tremendous  heights  I  sink 
Into  the  dark,  the  silent  dismal  depths; 
Again  I  rise  in  flights  immeasurable. 
I  strive  to  rest  but  find  no  pillow  but — 
The  yawning  chasm  of  the  frightful  void 
And  sink  again  to  depths  unfathomable. 
Now  swirled  in  eddies  of  some  hidden  force, 
To  unknown  realms  by  ruthless  currents  driven- 
A  human  phantom  doomed  to  endless  life; 
A  spirit  derelict  in  endless  space. 
Hark!  strange  sounds  become  articulate; 
A  solemn  voice  from  out  the  darkness  swells: — 


CHORUS 

Vain  man,  if  thou'rt  sufficient  for  thyself 
And  matter  only  is  thy  hope,  let  it  be  so, 

Material  is  all  thou'lt  ever  know! 


THE      SKEPTIC     IN     CHAOS  47 

SKEPTIC 

At  intervals  strange  shapes  in  myriads 
Of  varied  hue,  self-luminous,  athwart 
The  darksome  void  incontinently  sweep ; 
And  as  they  pass  I  seem  to  hear  the  wail 
Of  human  souls  in  dire  agony. 

Then  comes  the  thought,  indefinite  and  dull — 
But  whereat  I  rebel  with  conscious  shame — 
The  wonderful  reflection  that  the  soul 
As  well  as  matter  too  may  well  survive ; 


CHORUS 

For  nothing  dies — nor  deed,  nor  word,  nor  thought 
Although  their  memory  perchance  may  fade — 
Somewhere,  sometime,  'though  in  some  other  sphere, 
There  comes  from  distant  long-forgotten  shore 
A  whisper  rising  to  sweet  melody, 
Or  murmur  rumbling  into  dissonant 
Deep  thunder  peal  to  punish  or  reward. 


SKEPTIC 

And  now  the  consciousness  of  soul  creeps  in, 
Commands  my  being  and  asserts  itself: — 


48  CHAOS 

CHORUS 

Matter  resolved  into  its  elements 
Or  decomposed  into  its  primal  state 
To  human  eyes  is  imperceptible. 
Great  though  the  power  of  lens  to  magnify, 
No  eye  has  e'er  discerned  the  atom's  form; 
Nor  yet  the  shape  of  larger  molecule; 
Yet  in  a  single  atom  you  aver 
Electrons  swim  that  taunt  your  chemistry.22 
What  then,  O  man,  is  matter  that  you  know 
But  visible  forms  of  things  you  cannot  see? 
Ye  who  believe  that  matter  has  no  end, 
Why  not  extend  your  logic  to  the  soul? 
Must  sense  e'er  be  the  test  of  man's  belief? 
Must  he  reject  his  intuition's  guide 
And  ever  with  negation  stifle  hope? 
Why  drive  it  out  from  your  Philosophy? 
Who  taught  the  infant  chick  to  break  its  shell? 
Who  taught  the  busy  ant  its  house  to  build? 
Who  taught  the  spider  weave  its  wondrous  web? 
And  last  who  taught  your  first  forefathers  bend 
The  head  in  worship  of  the  unknown  God? 
He  who  ignores  the  spiritual  side  within 

24  Electrons.  The  theory  is  advanced  that  electrons  are  the 
basic  constituents  of  matter — that  even  the  Atom  is  not  the 
last  unit  into  which  matter  may  be  reduced;  thus  tending  to 
confirm  the  Monistic  theory  of  Haeckel.  They  are  said  to  have 
a  mass  equal  to  i-iyooth  of  an  atom  of  Hydrogen. 


THE     SKEPTIC     IN     CHAOS  49 

Is  like  the  worm  in  egotist  content, 

Too  satisfied  within  his  cramped  abode 

To  break  the  shell  that  keeps  him  from  the  world; 

Not  knowing  that  beyond  the  fragile  wall 

There  is  an  outer  and  a  greater  life. 

SKEPTIC 

What  sounds  are  these;  which  less  in  words  than  waves 
Of  thought  home-pressing  with  compelling  force, 
Bore  into  my  being  and  arouse  strange  fears? 

CHORUS 

A  disembodied  worm  within  the  shell 
Of  prejudice  upbuilt  in  former  life. 
Alas,  the  awful  truth  has  dawned  too  late 
There  can  be  now  no  surcease  from  his  fate. 


SKEPTIC 

My  thoughts  run  back  and  mournful  I  recall 
The  skill  and  wisdom  of  an  age  long  past; 
An  age  that  gained  the  mastery  of  matter; 
That  from  the  dead  evolved  new  life  and  use, 
And  from  the  waste  the  workmen  did  reject, 
Reformed  and  recreated  other  forms. 
Might  not  that  Providence,  that's  said  to  rule, 
Perform  with  souls  and  immaterial  things 


5O  CHAOS 

What  man  has  done  with  things  material? 
Recall  the  scattered  ions  from  the  void 
And  recreate  anew  the  universe? 
Endow  again  the  indestructible  soul 
With  other  forms  more  beautiful  incarnate 
So  death  and  life  shall  constitute  a  chain 
In  endless  cycles  of  e'erlasting  good? 


CHORUS 

Without  the  stars  to  mark  the  flight  of  time 
He  cannot  tell  the  ages  that  have  passed, 
Nor  yet  conceive  the  ages  still  to  pass 
Ere  he  shall  be  released  from  his  unhappy  plight. 

SKEPTIC 

With  all  the  boundless  stretch  of  universe 
At  my  disposal  yet  I  seem  to  be 
A  prisoner  fast  locked  to  endless  motion. 

CHORUS 

The  dark,  the  dreadful  silence  of  the  void; 
The  cold,  unfelt,  but  notwithstanding  known; 
The  sense  of  misery  wrought  by  consciousness 
Of  inability  to  rest  or  sleep; 


THE      SKEPTIC     IN     CHAOS  51 

The  fearful  lonesomeness  of  deprivation 
Of  human  company,  o'ermasters  pride; 
Weighs  down  his  spirit  and  his  tortured  soul — 


SKEPTIC 
Oh,  God  have  mercy!    Hear  my  anguished  cry! 

CHORUS 

Mark  at  the  word  the  awful  motion  ends 
Sweet  music  falls  upon  his  famished  ears 
And  to  his  eyes  there  comes  the  blessed  light ; 
A  peace  dispensing  radiance  fills  the  scene. 
And  then  there  comes  from  out  the  weary  ages, 
The  sound  of  voices;  then  the  consciousness 
Of  other  souls'  existence — voices  that 
Salute  with  welcome  and  a  cheerful  hail : 
Rest,  rest  at  last  in  sweet  eternal  peace! 

SKEPTIC  (awakens) 

Who  spoke?  Am  I  in  Death's  embrace  or  dreaming? 
Give  me  some  token,  Lord,  to  wake  my  faculties! 
The  summer  breeze  across  my  fevered  brow 
Blows  gently,  and,  before  my  wearied  eyes, 
The  myriad  stars,  which  Westward  sink  to  rest, 
Flash  out  their  welcome  from  the  deep  blue  vault. 


52  CHAOS 

The  time  perchance  is  near  the  Midnight  hour; 
The  sailor's  constellation  and  Great  Bear 
Have  leaped  a  quarter  circuit  round  the  Polar  Star. 
Thank  God,  I  live! — have  not  been  dead  for  ages; 
But,  oh,  more  blest,  the  soul  aroused  within 
Apprises  me  that  I  shall  never  die. 


INDEX 


53 


INDEX 

(Numbers  indicate  pages.    Notes  are  indicated  by  *) 


Aeronauts      24 

^Eschylus,  Persians  (Intro- 
duction)      xiii 

Affinity 42 

Agnostic  * 8 

Ambition 32 

Andromeda,  Nebula  in  *  .    19 
Aristophanes  (Introduc- 
tion)    xii 

Armies 22 

Arrow 41 

Atheist 9 

Atoms 13 

Aurora 40 


Books 
Bridges 


32 
30 


Canes  Venatici,  Nebula  in  *  19 

Charity      21 

Cimmerian  Darkness  ...   45 

City's  Streets 21 

Chorus,  Greek  Drama  (In- 
troduction)     xi 

Christianity 25 

Cohesion 42 

Constellations  ....     41.  42 
Corruption 23 


Courts 34 

Creeds 8,  25 

Cults      9 

Culture      21 

Customs 14 

Day  of  Reckoning    ....    26 
Death     .  .11 


Decadence 

Deserts 

Disintegration,  Reign  of 
Domestic  Strife  .... 
Dreams 


24 
26 
42 
23 

7 


Eschenburg,  Professor  J.  J. 

(Introduction)      .    .    .    .  xi 

Electrons* 48 

Elements,  Chemical  *      .    .  I 

Elements 42 

Empedocles  * 2 

Epitaphs 36 

Euripides  *  (Intro,  xi)     .    .  8 

Factories 21 

Faith      8 

Fame 33 

Fertile  Land 26 


54 


CHAOS 


Fire  Worshippers     . 

Folly 

Footsteps 

Forests 

Forest  Preservation  * 


6 
8 

30 
26 
26 


Glaciers 28 

Glacial  Period  * 29 

Greek    Drama    (Introduc- 
tion)     xi 

Haeckel.  Ernst  II.*     .    .    .48 

Heroes 25 

History      14 

Hydrogen  * 3,  18 

Immortality  (see  Soul) 

Injustice 23 

Internal  Strife 23 

Intolerance 14 

Intuitions* 8 

Jews 24 

Jupiter 15 

Justice 34 


Kant,  Immanuel  *  . 
Kipling,  Rudyard  * 


13 


Laplace,  Pierre  Simon     .    .17 

Laws 34 

Lawyers 35 

Lavoisier  * 3 


Learning,  School  of  .    .    .    .35 

Legislature 33 

Light 17 

Light-Year  * 17 

Lightning  and  Thunder       .   44 

Luxury 25 

Lyra,  Nebula  in  *    .    .    .    .19 

Magellanic  Nebula  *  .  .  .17 

Man 16,  21 

Mars 15 

Matter 48 

Matter,  Mastery  of  ...  49 

Alillennium 32 

Milton's  Samson  Agonistes 

(Introduction)  .  .  .  .  xii 

Molecules 42 

Monistic  Theory  *  ....  48 

Monuments 36 

Moon 15 

Morality,  legislating  *  .  .  34 
Moral  Weakness  .  .  .  13,21 

Moses 24 

Murray,  Professor  Gilbert 

(Introduction)      .    .    .    .    xi 

Navies 22 

Nebulae 16,  17 

Nebular  Hypothesis  *     .    .   17 

Negation 48  . 

Nitrogen  * 4,  18 

Novelty 9 

Oblivion 43 

Orators 34 


INDEX 


55 


Orion,  Nebula  in  *  . 
Oxygen  * 


.    19 
3.18 


Palisades  (on  the  Hudson)  n 
Passions  of  the  Cave  ...  13 

Peace 21 

Phonograph 12 

Phrynichus  (Introduction)  xii 
Plague  and  Famine  ...  27 

Power  and  Pelf 32 

Preachers 35 

Priestley,  Dr.  Joseph  *  .    .     3 

Railroads 12 

Reincarnation 50 

Ruins 32 

Samaritan,  Good      ....   25 

Satellites 5.  18 

Saturn 15.  18 

Schiaparelli,  Giovanni  *      .15 
Scott,   Sir    Walter    (Intro- 
duction)      xii 

Self-sufficiency 46 

Soldiers'  Graves 35 

Soul    .    .    .  6,  7,  47,  50,  51,  52 

Spirit 3i 

Spectroscope 13 

Spencer,  Herbert  *  ....  8 
Spiritual  Side  of  Man  .  .48 
Stoic  Zeal  46 


Stars,  Eternal 42 

Stars.  Orbit  of  * 37 

Steamers 24 

Stonehenge  * 6 

Structures 29 

Sun 5 

Sun,  Death  of 41 

Sunset it 

Sun  Worship  * 6 

Swedenborg,  Emanuel  *  .    .17 

Telephones 12 

Ten  Commandments  ...   24 
Twinkling  Stars 29 

Unchangeability  of  Man     .13 

Universe  * 18 

Universe,  End  of      ....  45 

Vega* 38 

Venus 14 

Venus,  Orbit  of  *     ....  15 

Vice  and  Virtue 26 

Void 45 

War 22 

World,  End  of      39 

X-Rays 12 


DATE  DUE 


GAYLORD 


PRINTED  IN  U.S    A. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACIL  TY 

AA    001  267  502  1 


